Darren Criss proud first Filipino-American to win Golden Globe

AMERICAN actor with Filipino blood, Darren Criss won Sunday (California time) a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series for his role as serial killer Andrew Cunanan in Ryan Murphy’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. Like Cunanan (whose father is from Bulacan), Criss has Filipino blood, but it should be said that is probably the only thing the two have in common. Backstage, after he won his trophy and the FX series won for Best Television Limited Series, Criss addressed being the first Filipino American to win a Golden Globe.

"I’ve said this before, but being half-Filipino is one of my favorite things about me,” he said. “I feel like I have been given a superhero cape and I am glad to step up to that plate.”

He continues, “It’s a great privilege — and I am proud to be part of that.”

During his acceptance speech on stage, Criss called Assassination “a grim story to make,” but also noted this had been “a marvelous year for (Asian) representation for actors in Hollywood. And I'm so enormously proud to be a teeny tiny part of that as the son of a firecracker Filipina woman from Cebu (Philippines) that dreamed of coming to this country," Criss said.